Hydraulic cylinder sizing ??

I'm trying to make my wife's log splitter easier to use.. Right now I'm putting new tables on both sides and would like to add a lift table and stabilizer leg to offset the weight on the lift side,, Stroke collapsed is about 18" on both.. I'm wondering what diameter I should go with,, The splitter is a 21 ton "White Outdoor" 6.5 hp motor..

Also what would you use for valves "on the cheep" to control them ??? Any help would be appreciated ..

Re: Hydraulic cylinder sizing ??

Originally Posted by hr3

I'm trying to make my wife's log splitter easier to use.. Right now I'm putting new tables on both sides and would like to add a lift table and stabilizer leg to offset the weight on the lift side,, Stroke collapsed is about 18" on both.. I'm wondering what diameter I should go with,, The splitter is a 21 ton "White Outdoor" 6.5 hp motor..

Also what would you use for valves "on the cheep" to control them ??? Any help would be appreciated ..

You need a valve with PB as the first valve in the flow path.

Here is a 2 spool valve with PB that would work well as a log lift and perhaps a blade lift.

Re: Hydraulic cylinder sizing ??

I would use a 2" cylinder; that's about 3sq in of piston face area, so a 2500 psi system produces a force of 7,500 pounds to extend the cylinder. I don't know exactly how you plan to mount it, so I don't know the shortest moment arm through which it will be acting. But if the cylinder can extend a full 16 inches surely the moment arm will not be less than 6", so even if your table extends 36" out from the splitter beam, and the log is at the very end of the table (unlikely) you will still have a lifting force of 1/6 of 7,500 pounds when the table is up to horizontal, which is 1,250 pounds. Take off 100 pounds for the table, that still leaves 1,150 pounds for the log. If your wife can get a 1,150 pound log to the splitter she doesn't need a lift table; in fact, she doesn't even need a splitter.